History of the Ana-Baptist Movement
Dan Nelson to Baptist Church History May 2, 2020 ·
History of the Ana-Baptist Movement
1- The Need for a Believers Church Baptist history goes back to the time of Christ when certain groups which had an affinity with Baptist principles operated outside the framework of the Universal Church. Such groups as the Donatists, Albigenses, Waldenses, Petro-Brussians, Arnoldists and certain individuals advocated Baptist principles. Baptists did not start with the Protestant Reformation. They were only defined as a group and particularly began using the name Baptist during this time of the Reformation. They believed the Bible was their source of practice, unlike Luther and Calvin who advocated a mixture of tradition and the Bible.
The Baptist leaders believed only in the church as a local assembly. They rejected the idea of a state church that included everyone in a family although some individuals in the family had not come to personal faith in Christ.
“In Zurich, Switzerland, the Anabaptist Movement began. George Blaurock, a former priest, stepped over to Conrad Grebel and asked him for baptism in the apostolic fashion – upon confession of personal faith in Jesus Christ. Grebel baptized him on the spot and Blaurock proceed to baptize others. Thus Ana-Baptism, another important expression of the Protestant Reformation, was born.
On March 7, 1526, the Zurich city council decided that anyone found rebaptized or teaching such doctrine would be tried for heresy and some were eventually martyred for this practice. Apparently, their thought was, “If heretics want water, let them have it.” Within a year on January 5, 1527, Felix Manz became the first Ana-Baptist martyr. The Zurich authorities drowned him in the Limmat, which flows through the city. Within four years the Radical Reformation in and around Zurich was practically eradicated, but the Ana-Baptist movement in other places began to grow.
The distinctive confession of the Anabaptist movement is the Schleitheim Confession in 1527 is a strong statement about individual conscience and religious liberty (Shelley, Church History made Simple 269).
2. Following the Biblical Teaching of Baptism
They saw baptism only by immersion and said it must be for believers only so they refused to have their infants sprinkled. This got them in trouble with civil authorities in Germany and Switzerland.
3. No Solidified Movement Their movement became known as the radical reformation because they advocated the local church and a complete break with the civil government’s right to regulate religion. They felt Luther and Calvin did not go far enough in the reformation and in essence, they saw them cleaning out the Catholic Church concept. They did not advocate a house-cleaning, but an entirely new order. They are spiritual ancestors to modern-day Baptists and stood against the tide of public opinion for truth instead of accommodation to error. Because Baptists had the unfortunate distinction of being persecuted by both Catholics and Protestants, their leaders did not live long and the movement that came from Ana-Baptism was not as powerful as the Lutheranism and Calvinism Movements
.B. Leaders and movements from Ana-Baptists
1. Conrad Grebel The the leader of the Swiss Brethren in Zurich, Switzerland. He was called the father of Anabaptism.
2. George Blaurock He was the first person baptized by Grebel.
3. Felix Manz First martyr for Ana-Baptism on January 5,1527, when he was drowned for his stand on baptism by immersion.
4. Hans Denck Leader of the Ana-Baptists along with Michael Sattler in Germany.
5. Menno Simons Founder of the Mennonites in Holland and West Germany. The Mennonites continue as a group to the present day.
6, Balthasar Hubmaier: Became the spokesman for the movement, a former Catholic priest, he also was arrested and burned at the stake March 10,1528.
7. Michael Sattler Spokesman for the Ana-Baptist movement in Germany, opposed government regulation of religion and refused to fight for the government in an unjust war against the Turks. He was burned at the stake. The primary author of the Schleitheim Confession
C. Basic Tenets and Legacy of Ana-Baptists
1. Believers Church and Individual Accountability
The Anabaptists believed babies should not be baptized and that every person baptized should be a believer who had accepted Christ personally. They believed this and this alone was a requirement for Church membership. The Church, therefore, was a local body of believers and not an institution or invisible as the Catholic and Protestant had taught.
2. A Biblical View of the Ordinances was symbolic to the Anabaptists. They believed baptism was a presentation or a declaration of what had already happened in one’s life and the Lord’s Supper remembered the sacrifice of Christ for their sins. Because of their view of baptism, Anabaptists refused to allow their babies to be sprinkled. Their view of non-violence in many cases also led to the persecution of its leaders by primarily Zwingli and leaders of the Reformed movement in Switzerland as they influenced civil authorities against them.
3. Religious Liberty The Anabaptists did not believe the civil government should control religion. Their bloody history of being persecuted and martyred for their faith is an example of government regulation of religion that has gone astray. DN
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